Newsletter 1-29-16

Mueller Moments

1st Grade * Bauer Elementary * Mrs. Holly Mueller * hmueller@hpseagles.net

January 29, 2016

• Coming up:
• Star Student: Ethan Noble
• Monday, February 1 - PE Day
• Thursday, February 4 - PE Day
• February 8-9 - Winter Break, No school
• February 10-12 - Send Valentines to school
• Valentine Party - Friday, February 12 at 2:45pm

• A friendly reminder: It is that time of winter when I need to send out a little Public Service Announcement ~ our snow gear is getting a bit stinky! Can you please try to run your child’s snow gear through the wash this weekend? With how wet it gets, and being stuffed in lockers and backpacks, it can get pretty nasty. If you are able to run it through the wash, it would be appreciated! Thank you!

• Valentine’s Day: A reminder that a list of names went home last week if you are choosing to complete cards for students. It can also be found on our blog for your reference. Please send in Valentines on February 10-12. Thank you!

• Reading: This week we continued our study of nonfiction stories as we worked through strategies for unknown words, as well as unknown word meaning. We’ve been tracking our thinking using sticky notes and thinking tracks (symbols). We also reviewed our reading voice and practiced rereading for fluency. We changed our reading workshop rotations this week and spent some time working on the transitions.  

• Writing: This week we worked on transitioning our paper choice for how to stories to longer packets. Students worked on adding extras to their stories with adding warnings and extra details, and remembering to include capitals and punctuation. We are wrapping up this unit at the end of this week, as well as next week. We will head to the computer lab to type up a final copy of our favorite how to story! Students have really enjoyed this unit. It is a fun genre. 

• Math: In math we have been working on adding one and two digit numbers to decade numbers. We will be wrapping up this place value unit at the end of this week. We will review and take the unit 4 test next week. 

• Social Studies: This week we finished learning about Abe Lincoln, and were introduced to George Washington. Next week we will take our timeline assessment, and will explore schools of the past and compare them to the present. 

For your children,

~ Holly R. Mueller

Newsletter 1-22-16

Mueller Moments

1st Grade * Bauer Elementary * Mrs. Holly Mueller * hmueller@hpseagles.net

January 22, 2016

• Coming up:
• Star Student: Abbi Ninan
• Tuesday, January 26: LIBRARY - Please remember your books!
• Wednesday, January 27 - PE Day
• February 8-9 - Winter Break, No school
• February 10-12 - Send Valentines to school
• Valentine Party: Friday, February 12 at 2:45pm

• Valentine’s Day: A list of names went home yesterday if you are choosing to complete cards for students. I am also attaching it to our blog for reference. Please send in Valentines on February 10-12. Thank you!

• Reading: This week we explored nonfiction texts by further practicing how to retell a nonfiction story, and we also started learning how to track our thinking in nonfiction texts. We learned we can have a reaction, questions, have new things we learned, and make connections. 

• Writing: It is so much fun to see students growing with this writing unit! This week we worked on adding introductions, supplies lists, and endings to our how to stories. What writers we have!

• Math: In math this week we continued our work on place value concepts. We learned what a digit is, worked on comparing two, 2-digit numbers with greater than, less than, and equal to, and worked on adding numbers to digit numbers. 

• Social Studies: This week we learned the story of Ruby Bridges. Ask your child to share what they know about her. We also started learning about Abraham Lincoln. Next week we will introduce George Washington. 

For your children,

~ Holly R. Mueller

Newsletter 1-17-16

Mueller Moments

1st Grade * Bauer Elementary * Mrs. Holly Mueller * hmueller@hpseagles.net

January 17, 2016

Our first snow day arrived this past week, which always brings excitement for students (never for the the teachers, of course!). I am in Chicago this weekend for a dance convention with my daughter, hoping the possible storm on its way doesn't develop into much.... The snow day didn’t slow us down at all though - we had a great week!

With Valentine's Day coming up, your child is invited to bring in Valentines for the entire class. I will send out a list of names to you next week if you'd like to get a head start on them. 

• Coming up:
• Star Student: Ava Mullinex
• Tuesday, January 19: LIBRARY - Please remember your books!
• Wednesday, January 20 - PE Day
• February 8-9 - Winter Break, No school

• Reading: We continued our work exploring nonfiction texts this week as we worked on reading our books like we are teachers, explored the structure of nonfiction texts, practiced retelling a nonfiction story telling what we learned, and used pictures and diagrams to helps us determine the words. We also logged on to Raz Kids again during our computer lab time. I love seeing so many students logging in at home as well.

• Writing: This week we began writing our how to stories. We practiced telling our stories and acting them out with partners, worked on sketching out the steps, and added precise teaching words to be more clear. At home if you notice something your child might be able to write a how to story about, be sure to point it out to them as a possible topic.

• Math: Place value concepts continued this week as we worked on representing two digit numbers with tens sticks and circles. We also worked on common number reversals and confusions with teen numbers (80 vs. 18, 50 vs. 15, etc.), and we ended the week with an introduction to to adding numbers with double digits. 

• Social Studies: We continued our history unit this week with studying Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. As your child what he/she learned about these important people in our history. This week we will learn the story of Ruby Bridges and learn about Abraham Lincoln. 

For your children,

~ Holly R. Mueller

Newsletter 1-8-16

Mueller Moments

1st Grade * Bauer Elementary * Mrs. Holly Mueller * hmueller@hpseagles.net

January 8, 2016

It was a great week back in 1st grade! We enjoyed reconnecting with each other after a long break. This week we reviewed routines and started several new units. Details are below!

Be sure to have your child wear warm snow gear and boots daily. Also, please check to make sure all gear is labeled with names! Thank you!

• Coming up:
• Star Student: Liam Kleinsmith
• Monday, January 11 - PE Day
• Thursday, January 14 - PE Day
• February 8-9 - Winter Break, No school

• Reading: We had a great start to our new unit: Nonfiction. We learned how books are organized at the library and organized our own library as we sorted fiction and nonfiction texts. We then further divided our nonfictions texts by subject area. One student told me, "This is the best day of reading ever!" They really enjoyed this task. We focused on text features of nonfiction texts as we wrapped up our week. Point out to your children at home all of the different nonfiction texts that are at your house!

• We also logged in to Raz Kids for the first time in the computer lab. This is a fantastic reading website that your child can complete at home. They will have the chance to listen to a book, then read the book, and finally take a short quiz on the book. And all books are at your child’s independent level! Head to www.kidsa-z.com - enter hmueller1. It is a great resource for growing readers. 

• Writing: We began our new writing unit this week, writing How to stories. We had a lot of fun exploring these types of books, looking at text features, brainstorming topics, and writing a how to together. This is another are where you can point out how to books and texts around your home (recipe books, game directions, etc.).

• Math: We continued working on place value concepts this week as we explored adding numbers that have a teen total, as well as adding doubles, and doubles plus and minus one and two. 

• Social Studies: We started a history unit this week where we are learning about the past and timelines as we study important historical figures. Most of our focus this week was on Martin Luther King Jr. I love the conversations that spark as we discuss his life and legacy. 

• Data Notebooks are coming home today. Be sure to check out new writing assessments from the last unit. You will see the post assessment on top, and the pre assessment below.  

For your children,

~ Holly R. Mueller